After initially attempting to cover up the shooting of her ex-boyfriend, a Gulfport woman admitted to the crime after an investigation and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder at the Harrison County Courthouse last week.
Harrison County sheriff’s deputies were called to Singing River Hospital in Gulfport on October 26, 2022, after reports that a shooting victim, later identified at 35-year-old Kendray Stallworth of Gautier, was in the emergency room. Stallworth was dropped off at the hospital by Edna Charlene Rivers, 40, of Gulfport.
Video surveillance footage shows Rivers arriving at Singing River, where she went inside to tell a nurse that she needed help because her friend had either been shot or stabbed. After police arrived, Rivers told officers that Stallworth arrived at her house saying he was cold and subsequently collapsed. She also said no one answered when she called 911.
But a search at Rivers’ home led to the discovery of a shell casing and blood spots in the house. When authorities confronted her about the evidence, she admitted to shooting Stallworth because she was angry that he was late to pick her up for a trip to the plasma center. Records also showed that Rivers’ 911 only lasted 8 seconds.
Stallworth succumbed to his injuries two days later. An autopsy revealed that he died from a single gunshot wound on the left side of his back.
“Instead of remaining on the call or calling 911 again, the Defendant made several calls to her sister in Biloxi, asking her to drive to Gulfport to help load the victim into his car,” Assistant District Attorney Jasmine Magee, who prosecuted the case, said.
“More than an hour passed from the time Mr. Stallworth had been shot to the time he arrived at the hospital – valuable time that could’ve been used to save his life.”
Rivers will spend 30 years behind bars after Circuit Court Judge Christopher L. Smith gave Rivers 40 years for second-degree murder, with 20 suspended, along with 10 years for the tampering with physical evidence charge. The sentences are to run consecutively.
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